This gig should have been a celebration; a jubilant, triumphant recognition of Mansun’s masterpiece debut album, Attack of the Grey Lantern, on its 21st anniversary, performed by the band’s leader Paul Draper.

But this will not be remembered in nostalgic glee. It will be remembered, sadly, as a chaotic, shambolic embarrassment.

Read More

Let’s start with Draper's arrival on stage. He’s like a hirsute guitar-wielding Luke Skywalker from The Last Jedi. Cool. But it soon spiralled into “Oliver Reed with a guitar”.

This was a gig of two-halves. Both ruined.

The first part of the show was based around Draper's solo work. From the tender threat of Don't Poke the Bear, to the vibrant Grey House, it was a decent start. But things soon turned sour. After four songs, he stormed off stage in a fury, seemingly upset at something - or someone - in the audience.

He returns almost 50 minutes later.

The second half was supposed to be the celebration, and the reason why we were all gathered here: AOTGL played in full, unabridged.

But again, it didn’t quite play out like that, as he seemed to forget more words than he remembered, and left the stage early.

It was the most bizarre performance and it can’t be ignored that Draper once wrote a Mansun song entitled I Can Only Disappoint You. Well tonight, he did. Massively.

Read More

The Nottingham Post has a new app and it’s available to download now on Android and iPhone. Simply go to the Google Play store or the App store and search for the Nottingham Post. The app can be tailored to show only the content you are interested in - and you'll receive alerts based on those interests too.